Ben Brown Pitch-Designed a Sinker Over the Offseason

A piece titled “Analytically Inclined, Ben Brown Boasts a Power Arsenal” ran here at FanGraphs back on March 13, 2024, two-plus weeks before Brown made his major league debut. Then one of the top pitching prospects in the Chicago Cubs organization, Brown might now be best described as a high-upside hurler with a lot left to prove. The 26-year-old right-hander is coming off a 2025 season in which he logged a 5.92 ERA and 4.08 FIP while allowing 121 hits, 18 of which left the yard, over 106 1/3 innings.

A new addition to his arsenal could be what allows him to turn the corner. Along with an 96-mph four-seam fastball, 87-mph curveball, and 90-mph kick-change, the 6-foot-6 East Setauket, New York native is now throwing a two-seamer.

“I started pitch-designing it during the offseason,” Brown told me at Cubs camp on Wednesday. “I was training in Nashville, picked the brains of some dudes, and it got to the point where I really liked it. I threw probably 15 of them [over two scoreless innings against the Kansas City Royals] the other day and it went well.”

One “dude” in particular played a key role in him learning the pitch.

“Clay Holmes introduced me to the grip,” Brown said of the New York Mets right-hander who threw the fifth-highest percentage of sinkers among qualified pitchers last season. “His sinker is a lot different than mine, but he’s a really bright baseball mind. He just does a really good job of communicating and teaching. He’s one heck of a coach as well as a player. One thing he did is help me to kill spin efficiency.”

Asked how his sinker differs from Holmes’, Brown responded much as I thought he might. Again, the 2024 article described him as analytically inclined.

“He’s a little more seam-shifted,” said Brown. “He’s throwing like -2 [vertical] and 20 [horizontal] sinkers. The way that he throws — different arm angle, a supinator — he’s able to manipulate the ball differently than I am. Clay’s ability to manipulate the baseball is actually better than anything I’ve ever seen. So yeah, I’m getting more ride than he is — a lot more ride — as well as a little bit less run. My best bullet the other day was seven [vertical], 17 [horizontal]. Hopefully my four-seam is the exact opposite of that. That’s the goal, to get a good distinction between the two pitches.”

Batters’ ability to hone in on his heater necessitated the new look. The numbers serve as ample proof. Brown threw 978 four-seamers last season (55.6% of his total pitches), to the tune of a .315 batting average allowed, 11 home runs allowed, and a .566 slugging percentage. “Obviously, it got hit pretty hard last year,” the tall righty acknowledged. “I needed to make some adjustments.”

Along with adding a new fastball, he is looking to improve the quality of the old one. As with the two-seamer, spin efficiency is part of the equation.

“I’m trying to kill efficiency on my four-seam, which should help,” Brown explained. “The more efficient your four-seam is going to be, the more on arm angle it’s going to be. So the more you can kill efficiency, the more off arm angle you can be. That’s where guys are getting the cut-ride. Their efficiency is probably 80%, which I’m able to do on my sinker, which is great. I’m trying to emulate that on my four-seam. It’s a work in progress.”

Addressing the rest of his arsenal, Brown said that his curveball — a pitch that he threw at a 39.9% clip, to the tune of a .252 batting average allowed and a .413 slugging percentage — “feels good.” Nothing has changed there.

As for his sporadically-used (4.5%) change-of-pace, it’s moving in the right direction. Brown began working on a kick-change around the mid point of last season, and thanks to his “getting to pitch-design it all offseason,” it is getting closer to where he wants it. Metrically, the goal is the zero line. “It’s in a pretty good spot right now,” he told me.

As for where Brown will be on Opening Day, that remains to be seen. The most likely scenario has him beginning the year in the starting rotation at Triple-A Iowa, but a lot can happen between now and March 26. Wherever he starts out, he should play a meaningful role on the North Side this season. Armed with a promising new pitch that Clay Holmes helped him develop, Brown may very well be ready to turn the corner.